The Computerized Business Simulation Specialists

PCI Global, Inc.
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Real-Time Workshops

Overview
PCI Real-Time Workshops are neither stand-alone training nor open-ended consulting. PCI Real-Time Workshops are 3-day intensive planning and implementation sessions customized to your actual critical project. Experienced PCI Project Managers work alongside your intact project team. They follow a structured format to facilitate, creating a complete project definition and detailed plan to accomplish sponsor objectives with carefully defined costs, risks and resources. Just hours after the workshop, the complete package is delivered electronically for immediate review and start up.

The Payoff
Aiding overloaded Project Managers to create a better project definition and plan in less time, thereby reducing total implementation time. This in turn reduces errors and costs materially; increasing probability of your success. This approach also frees-up scarce resources for your other projects. All for the cost of one class!

Fringe Benefits
You get 4 additional benefits: (1) Just-in-time skill training and knowledge transfer to team members, (2) Sponsor and Project Manager coaching on roles and responsibilities, (3) Intact team effectiveness is built through working on a real project, and (4) low cost insurance against your project becoming another "horror story".

Customized:
All workshops are customized to your specific project needs to assess and contain risks, costs and resource constraints and can be used at start up, midway or to recover a "troubled" project.

Detailed Workshop Objectives and Return on Investment:

  • Condense the time needed to produce major project artifacts (e.g. sustainable scope, charter, time lines, risk analysis)
  • Align the project team and reach consensus with sponsor and stakeholders around project objectives, scope and success metrics
  • Rapidly and efficiently create a detailed and credible plan for the project
  • Identify and define key project deliverables and issues that may derail the team
  • Identify significant project risks and build a pro-active plan to manage them
  • Demonstrate project management best practices and accomplish skill and knowledge transfer through real-time application on a mission-critical project
  • Just-in-time team building as they set operating principles, plans and schedules--they will have to live by
  • Supporting the culture of project management best practices

A Partnership that Works
A team of two PCI professionals work with the Project Manager and Sponsor to prepare for the workshop by:

Reviewing the objectives, business requirements, budget, scope and deliverables
of the target project

  • Collecting and assessing all current project-specific information and reports
  • Setting workshop objectives, defining deliverables and creating a tailored agenda
    based upon specific project requirements
  • Identifying key workshop participants
  • Coaching the Project Manager and Sponsor on their roles during the workshop
  • Establishing workshop logistics
  • Assisting in the preparation of workshop pre-work as appropriate

 

Workshop Process:
During the workshop, the Lead and Supporting Facilitator work with the project team and subgroups to:

  • Orient and guide the team through the workshop process
  • Facilitate difficult discussions to maintain the team's focus on key issues
  • Overview best practice project management processes and guide applications
  • Coach individual participants in selected project management skills
  • Capture critical program information in a visual format
  • Create a Project Charter and Scope on PCI's Electronic Tool Kit
  • Create a Project Plan in a Microsoft Project template

Debrief
After the workshop, the PCI team debriefs the Project Manager and Sponsor on the workshop results and converts the information generated into an Electronic Tool Kit and scheduling software ready to deploy over your intranet or via hard copy to share, review, tweak and implement.

PCI Experience
PCI has trained Project Managers for 55 Global 500 leaders for 12 years with unique computer simulation seminars. Real-Time Workshops have been run for Merrill Lynch, Capital One, Wyeth Pharmaceutical and the American Red Cross.

Workshop Process Deliverables

  • An agreed-upon definition of the Project Scope, including details on what is inside and
    outside the project scope
  • A list of key project issues and assumptions
  • The identification of major work efforts, specific outputs and dependencies and their definition
  • Detailed task descriptions of the steps and work required to accomplish the project
    objectives, including their interdependency, duration and resource requirements
  • A Risk Management Plan that addresses preventive actions, triggers and contingency plans for all major risks
  • Human Resources Plan with Responsibility Matrix
  • Roles and responsibilities of team members
  • Agreement on important team practices, such as meetings, status reporting and change management
  • A "next step" plan for the team to finalize the Project Charter and Plan